The Energy Scavengers

By Ryan Sean O'Reilly

When mankind reaches far out into the universe to find other life forms it may first find machines. A string of planets on the outer edges of the Milky Way contain the mechanical workers of an ancient alien civilization. Calvin, an exploratory rover coupled with, Nutshell, his landing ship, are sent to discover what all these machines are still doing–now that they’ve been abandoned by their alien owners. First contact comes not by hand of man, but by metal of machine.

Series Overview: This is the first installment in a robot-themed series which tells the story exclusively through the eyes of machines. The works are interconnected but can stand on their own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ryan Sean O'Reilly
• Release date: Aug 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9780985426507

Ryan Sean O'Reilly

I took to books at an early age and can still remember my father reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit to me at bedtime. When I could read on my own, my mother brought home books from the library for my siblings and me. She tells me, that I would look at the covers and say "not interested", but if she left them on my night stand I couldn't help, but devour them--the genres and titles didn't seem to matter. Growing up the oldest of five children outside the city of Chicago, our house was always teeming with activity--so it may be no wonder that I enjoyed staying up late to read when things were quiet. There was always something transcendent about disappearing into another world while the rest of the house slept. Books taught me so much about myself and the world around.I've crossed through a few different genres trying to find my voice but mostly dwell in fantasy, science fiction, and literary fiction. A few authors who have inspired me are: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Frank Herbert, Richard Adams, J.K. Rowling, Douglass Adams and William Shakespeare.Official website: www.ryanseanoreilly.comWhen I'm not writing, I cohost the podcast: "No Deodorant In Outer Space" (www.nodeodorant.com).

Book preview

The Energy Scavengers

a novelette of speculative fiction

By: Ryan Sean O’Reilly

Website: http://www.ryanseanoreilly.com

Artwork by: Daniel Gracey

© Copyright 2012 Ryan Sean O’Reilly, All Rights Reserved.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-9854265-0-7

ISBN-10: 0985426500

Acknowledgements: The Southland Scribes

Special Thanks: Linda Roche O’Reilly, John Doyle and Lydia T. Ponczak

THE ENERGY SCAVENGERS

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Cover Art

Website Info

Start

Middle

End

Other Titles

Space debris assaulted the little ship’s hull like summer hail on a tin roof. Speed of descent increased as gravity drew the unmanned pod deeper into the atmosphere of the brown planet. Nutshell, as the craft was known, activated an exploratory rover nestled protectively within its frame, and an onboard computer came to life.

CLVN online. Performing diagnostics check. Ok, reported the rover, casually referred to as Calvin. After years of silence, interrupted only occasionally by a regimented test sequence, Calvin was finally online. His circuits warmed with electricity like blood putting life back into a frozen limb. He could feel his processors waking as each sensor turned on and booted up.

A loud crack and an answering burst from one of the ship’s rockets jostled the rover.

Status? Calvin queried.

Rear thruster: damaged, unexpected impact with metallic object exceeding ten centimeters in length, Nutshell reported.

We are not on the surface? Calvin asked, and then activated his visual scanner to look out one of the port windows.

There is an unexpected density of flotsam. Protocol dictates your input in this event.

Are we on target for the rim camp?

Trajectory for the primary landing site is proving difficult at this orbital decay, Nutshell answered, after a brief moment.

Reroute to alternate three, Calvin instructed, observing the chunks of debris through his camera.

Thrusters pulsed again and pushed the ship toward a different landing site. A noise reverberated from below as Nutshell opened one of the bay doors. Through the window, Calvin watched as an orbital communications satellite drifted away from them. Propulsion rockets kicked into life.

Successful drop off of COMSAT—

A loud clank echoed in the spacecraft, interrupting Nutshell’s announcement, sending the ship into a spiral. Calvin’s primary camera caught a glimpse of an explosion as COMSAT was destroyed by a floating piece of alien garbage. Blackness, polka dotted with stars and streaked with refuse, whipped past the port window. Pieces from the ruined satellite careened at them wildly.

Nutshell, all thrusters go, Calvin commanded.

Affirmative, the ship responded, but too late. New debris from COMSAT collided with them and Nutshell was spun further off course. Stabilizing thrusts were fired off in a continuous pattern as Nutshell attempted to regain control, but nothing seemed to work. As they slowed, they impacted something else and were ricocheted into yet another trajectory.

Entering Delta plane, Gamma plane, Beta—

Maintain descent to the surface, ordered Calvin. Get us down.

They zigzagged back and forth through the orbital planes of rock, dust and junk surrounding the brown planet. At

Reviews for The Energy Scavengers

[sadiesforsythe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Yep, this totally struck me as a robotic version of Mad Maxx. I quite enjoyed it though. Despite their lack of humanity I found the characters relatable and well rounded for such a short piece. The story was also well developed, with very little extra to clutter it up. The reader was given the information they needed, with enough description to make everything easily imaginable, but not so much detail as to be distracting. Well worth reading.